New delay for Tuam Mother and Baby Home survivors
Survivors of the Tuam Mother and Baby Home were this week informed that the Commission set up to examine the institution, and others like it, must delay its report by a further twelve months in order to deliver “a complete analysis”.
In its fourth interim report, the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation, chaired by Judge Yvonne Murphy, conceded that it would not be possible to complete the report by next month.
Established on February 17, 2015, the Commission was due to deliver its report to the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs on February 17, 2019.
However, due to the volume of materials collected and still to be collected, as well as the unanticipated difficulty in establishing the burial practices of these institutions, the Commission has sought, and been granted, an extension to February 2020.
Survivor of the Tuam Mother and Baby Home, PJ Haverty, told the Connacht Tribune that while everyone would like to see the Commission report as soon as possible, it was his opinion that if it takes an extra year to do so properly, then it will be worth the wait.
“I wouldn’t have any objection to them going through it for another year, as long as the whole thing is done and dusted.
“I wouldn’t like to see it happen, what happened with the survivors of the Magdalene Laundries, where the McAleese Report came out, the book was closed, and a lot of people were never interviewed,” said Mr Haverty.
According to the report, some 519 former residents, or people with connections to them, had met with the Commission, with the remaining 26 awaiting hearings due to have done so by the end of this month. This is a preview only. To read the rest of this article, see the January 25 edition of the Connacht Tribune. Buy a digital edition of this week's paper here.